208 Th£ Zoologist— May, 1866. 



Habits of the Shorttailed Petrel (Nectris brevicaudns).* 



This bird is an inhabitant of the seas surrounding Tasmania and 

 theislands in Bass's Straits, to some of which, but especially the Green 

 Island, it resorts during the summer in countless numbers, fur tlie pur- 

 pose of breeding and rearing its young. I visited this island in 

 January, 1839, when, although the season was far advanced, both eggs 

 and young were still so numerous a.s to excite my astonishment. I had 

 previously heard much of this great nursery of petrels, and might have 

 added much to the length of this paper by recording my own observa- 

 tions; but so much has been written by others that I prefer giving 

 their statements, notwithstanding a little repetition in the details com- 

 prised therein. Mr. Davies, in the second volume of the ' Tasmanian 

 Journal,' states that " About the commencement of September these 

 birds congregate in immense flocks, and shortly afterwards proceed 

 at sunset to the diO'erent isles upon which they have established their 

 rookeries. Here they remain during the night for the space of about 

 ten days, forming their burrows and preparing for the ensuing 

 laying season. They then leave, and continue at sea for about five 

 weeks. 



About the SOth of Noven)ber, at sunset, a few come in to lay, and 

 gradually increase in numbers until the night of the 24lh. Still there 

 are comparatively iQv:, and a person would find some difficulty in 

 collecting two dozen eggs on the morning of that day. 



It is not in my power to describe the scene that presents itself at 

 Green Island on the night of the 24th of November. A few minutes 

 before sunset flocks are seen making for the island from every quarter, 

 and that with a rapidity hardly conceivable ; where they congregate 

 together, so dense is the cloud, that night is ushered in full ten minutes 

 before the usual time. The birds continue flitting about the island for 

 nearly an hour, and then settle upon it. The whole island is burrowed, 

 and when I state that there are not sufficient burrows for one-fourth of 

 the birds to lay in, the scene of noise and confusion that ensues may 

 be imagined. I will not attempt to describe it. On the morning of 

 the 25th the male birds lake their departure, returning again in the 

 evening, and so they continue to do until the end of the season. 

 * * * Every burrow on the island contains, according to its size, 



* Extracted froin Gould's ' Handbook of llie Birds of Australia,' vol. ii. p. 464 ; 

 and previously printed iu the ' Ibis ' for Iboi*, p. 397. 



